STREAKING PHILLIES BEAT METS

Phillies 5, Mets 3 (NYM: 64-44, PHI: 53-55)

I never considered the possibility that Chase Utley's hitting streak would end, and the Mets would lose. I only considered two options:

1) Utley's hitting streak would continue, and the Mets would win.

2) Utley's hitting streak would end, and the Mets would win.

Maybe 3), Utley wouldn't play, and the Mets would win.

This kind of blows my mind - Chase's Chase is over at 35 (time to shift attention to Manny Ramirez and his 20-game hitting streak), and the Phillies kept the magic number from decreasing any more with a win at Shea.

I realize the Phillies are playing much better baseball since the trading deadline. I realize they're on a bit of a streak. I realize they've cut into the Mets' lead in the division. But they still don't scare me. They're a better team than they were - but they're still not a good team. I'm not worried about them challenging for the division, and I'm not worried about them winning the wild card. I'm not worried about the Mets facing anyone in the National League playoffs, to be honest. (The Cardinals are a joke right now - they've had more 5+ -game losing streaks this year than any other first-place team in history, says me. It's got to be a record. They're awful.) So I'm not upset that the Mets lost this game to the Phillies.

It was a pretty good game. Orlando Hernandez pitched very well, so that's encouraging. He battled all night, and had thrown 115 pitches by the time he was done in after 6 innings. Along the way he gave up 3 runs, 7 hits, 3 walks, had 7 strikeouts, 2 balks, and a triple. That's right, a triple. Again, the Mets left some runners in scoring position, missing out on a few timely hits.

But it was a 3-3 game into the 7th, when Darren Oliver surrendered a homer to David Dellucci. Oliver's been very reliable all year - chalk this loss up to bad timing on the part of the Mets' hitters, and Oliver throwing a bad pitch at a bad time. I'm really not concerned.

The Mets play the Phillies 9 more times this month (10 total in August). The worst they will do is 5-5 through those 10 games. And by going 5-5, the Mets will trim 10 games off the magic number. Good enough for me. I bet they do even better than 5 wins. Starting Saturday at Shea. And hopefully Tom Glavine gets back in the "W" column as the Mets rock Jon Lieber.

(I will not see Saturday's game due to childbirthing class - Saturday and Sunday, all day. I will be able to watch Sunday's game, I'm not sure I'll be able to write afterwards. The Mets are the Sunday night national telecast, but with a workshop I need to attend next week, I'm not sure I'll be up late. I'll post daily starting Monday, but I'm not sure if it will be after games.)

MAGIC NUMBER: Stalled on 44.

ALL PEDRO*, ALL THE TIME: Red Sox fans will be happy to know that Pedro Martinez* is still up to his old off-day antics in the dugout. He has a "magic bat", a plastic, wiffle ball-type bat, in Mets colors, the kind with a bigger barrel than a normal wiffle ball bat. Anyway, during home games, he waves the bat around, jokes around with players in the Mets dugout, and in the visitor's dugout. He got a lot of air time during the Mets telecast Friday night, and I figured I'd mention it tonight, because I had forgotten for a while. It's fun to watch, as Red Sox fans are well aware.

CONTEST: I think I need your help. I need to name my fantasy football team, and I can't think of anything too clever. I need it to be clean - good, family fun. But I think it needs to have something to do with the fact that I'm going to become a father. I've got a couple of ideas, but I'm open to suggestions. E-mail me (I'd prefer e-mails to posted comments) suggestions at johnnymetsmail@yahoo.com and I'll post the good ones, and if I don't come up with anything myself, I'll use the best one as my team name. And maybe the winner will get a cool t-shirt.

THE KID'S KIDS: The St. Lucie Mets lost to Clearwater, 6-2 Friday, and fell to one full game behind Daytona, which beat Lakeland. Interestingly, the Alfonzo nephew took the loss for the Mets.

ALFONZO'S COMEBACK: Apparently Edgardo Alfonzo reads the blog. One night after I bemoaned the fact that Alfonzo was only hitting singles, as he attempted to get back to the Majors with the Mets, he goes 2-for-3, mixing in a double. This continues his modest hitting streak, and lifts his average to .250. He also had a walk and a run scored.

BEAT THE STREAK: At two right now - Vladimir Guerrero had a hit in his first game against Texas. Friday night, he's 0-for-his-first-at-bat, striking out on some very high heat. Guerrero is on a tear against Texas. Let's examine what he's doing - it has to be the best string against one opponent ever:

• He's hit in all 43 career games he's played against Texas.
• In those 43 games, Guerrero is hitting .441, with 15 homers and 35 RBI.
• He's a .348 career hitter against Texas' starter Friday night, Vicente Padilla (I needed a 3rd bullet)...he'll end up with a hit on Friday.